An efficient strategy (enhanced metal oxide interaction and core-shell confinement to inhibit the sintering of noble metal) is presented confined ultrathin Pd-CeO x nanowire (2.4 nm) catalysts for methane combustion, which enable CH 4 total oxidation at alow temperature of 350 8 8C, muchlower than that of ac ommercial Pd/Al 2 O 3 catalyst (425 8 8C). Importantly, unexpected stability was observed even under harsh conditions (800 8 8C, water vapor,and SO 2 ), owing to the confinement and shielding effect of the porous silica shell together with the promotion of CeO 2 .Pd-CeO x solid solution nanowires (Pd-Ce NW) as cores and porous silica as shells (Pd-CeNW@SiO 2 ) were rationally prepared by af acile and direct self-assembly strategy for the first time.T his strategy is expected to inspire more active and stable catalysts for use under severe conditions (vehicle emissions control, reforming,a nd water-gas shift reaction).Natural gas is widely used in power generation and other heating applications on account of its abundance worldwide and its high hydrogen/carbon ratio.M ethane,t he main component of natural gas,i sk nown to be as erious greenhouse gas with an effect about 20 times that of CO 2 . [1] Catalytic total combustion of methane (CH 4 )a tl ow temperature is an effective method of preventing it from polluting the atmosphere.I ti sw idely acknowledged that palladium (Pd)-based catalysts are the most active for CH 4 combustion. [2] However,the catalytic activity of Pd alone is somewhat limited, and the high surface energy of Pd nanospecies often leads to the sintering and growth of Pd during the hightemperature process. [1b, 3] Cerium oxide has been used in catalytic CH 4 combustion as ar obust support material. [4] It exhibits excellent redox properties as well as outstanding oxygen storage capacity. [4b,5] TheP d-CeO 2 catalytic system is especially attractive for its high activity and stability in CH 4 combustion, which is contributed by not only the active component (PdO x )b ut also the strong Pd-CeO 2 interaction. [6] Considering the similar radius of the Pd 2+ ion (0.86 )and the Ce 4+ ion (0.87 ), the formation of the solid solution or highly dispersed Pd-Ce-O mixed oxide is considerably enhanced, which can generate more surface oxygen vacancies and under-coordinated oxygen atoms. [7] Accordingly,t he catalytic activity and the thermal stability of ceria-supported noble metal catalysts for CH 4 combustion can be greatly improved. [8] Encapsulation of metal nanoparticles (NPs) into an anoporous shell to assemble ac ore@shell structure is an effective strategy to resist particle aggregation and to protect active centers from poisoning species. [9] It could restrain the contact between metal NPs to keep active sites stable even under harsh conditions,meanwhile allowing the free diffusion of reactant molecules into and out of the shells. [9c] Cargnello et al. reported ac atalyst with PdO encapsulated in small cerium oxide NPs,which showed high thermal stability for inhibiting the sintering of...